KING CITY — The scoreboard had a workout last Friday night at War Memorial Stadium in King City as the visiting Carmel Padres and the host King City Mustangs combined for 96 points.
The Mustangs were able to keep up with the Padres in the first half but fell by a 63-33 score to Mission South leading Carmel.
“We learned early on why Carmel is the No. 1 team in Monterey County,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “They (Padres) have a lot of size up front and athletes at every position. That, along with being extremely well coached, makes them who they are.”
The Padres scored on their set of down on a touchdown reception by Ty Arnold and a two-point conversion pass by quarterback Hudson Rutherford to lead 8-0.
With 2:02 left in the first quarter, the Mustang answered back with a 24-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jesus Manriquez and a PAT kick by Johell Carrillo.
Carmel struck back quickly with two unanswered scores on the ground and in the air, including a 21-yard run by Ashton Rees. The deficit sparked the Mustangs, as they cut into the lead with a 36-yard touchdown by Carson Tidwell. After a missed PAT, King City trailed 21-13.
Carmel took a 28-13 lead with a touchdown reception by Matt Maxon, but Manriquez used his running ability to run for a 41-yard touchdown to get the lead down to 28-19. That was about as close as the Mustangs could get as Carmel ended the first half with a 66-yard touchdown run by Rees to lead by 35-19.
In the second half, King City scored with a 14-yard touchdown play from Manriquez to Cody Lambert and a two-point conversion pass to Alexander Macias. The last Mustang score was a 10-yard pass from Manriguez to Macias, but they were unsuccessful on a two-point conversion attempt.
Carmel added 28 points in the second half to complete their scoring, ending with a final score of 66-33.
“I was very happy with how our offense was executing and moving the ball up and down the field against the best team we have played this season,” Villanueva said. “Offensively, it was our biggest output of the season with over 400 yards. Carson Tidwell had another good game with 151 yards on 17 attempts. Defensively, we couldn’t get off the field on third and long, which is a problem. We couldn’t come up with the stop when we needed one and Carmel didn’t punt one time.”
Manriquez added 99 yards passing and 55 rushing yards with two touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns. Lambert was the Mustang leading receiver with 44 yards on three receptions and a touchdown reception. Macias added 66 rushing yards and scored a touchdown.
Rocky Villanueva led the team with nine tackles, including one for a loss. Fabian Herrera played solid in the secondary and gave up just one reception to Padres standout receiver Simeon Brown. Macias pitched in defensively with eight tackles.
“If we could have limited mistakes, that’s a much closer game,” Villanueva said. “Overall, I was pleased with how we came out and competed with Carmel. We went punch for punch with them in the first half. Happy we made them play the better part of four quarters.”
King City fell to 0-2 in the Mission South and 2-4 overall. This Friday will be Homecoming at King City and they will welcome the Greenfield Bruins (2-4 overall, 0-2 in Mission South).
